TALK Opens Summer Cyber Camp Registration for Youth With UPS Funding

The Technology Association of Louisville Kentucky has launched its cyber camps program at no cost to participating middle and high school youth in West Louisville this summer with funding provided by United Parcel Service of America, Inc. (UPS). Registration is now open at LCCC and Neighborhood House. See contacts below.

This summer program will have 4 week-long sessions that will explore robotics, programming, and electricity subjects with a hands-on robot build of boe-bots. Sessions will be led by high school teachers and college leaders with interests in math and science who will be pre-trained by NICERC, the Cyber Innovation Center who has developed extensive cybersecurity curricula soon to be implemented statewide in Kentucky.

The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) defines over 30 specialty areas and 50 work roles that comprise cybersecurity work and provides a description of each on its website for those researching this field. (http://csrc.nist.gov/nice/workforce.html) There are more than 2,115 open jobs in the state at this time from all types of employers needing this career specialization.

Earlier this year, Kentucky became the second state in the US to adopt the federal cyber engineering pathway curricula designed by NICERC for 9-12th graders for use in its school districts.
“We need to educate the next generations about the importance of these career paths, and these cyber camp programs step up the conversation in our region,” said Dawn Marie Yankeelov, Executive Director of the Technology Association of Kentucky, and President of Aspectx, a communications firm.

Both Louisville Central Community Center and the Neighborhood House work with underprivileged youth and encourage career development that speaks to the future of workforce needs.
Confirmed Cyber Camp dates include the weeks of: June 12th, at the Neighborhood House; June 19th, 9 AM to 3 PM at LCCC; July 10th, 9 AM to 3 PM at LCCC; July 24th at Neighborhood House. 9AM to 3 PM. Target Audience: Interested Middle and High Schoolers; 25 students per class. This is a rolling robot project with a BASIC Stamp 2 microcontroller brain. Students will learn to: write BASIC programs; build a robot; wire up circuits and make the robot do a number of activities.

To register a Louisville student in middle or high school in this program, contact either Deborah Grant at Lou. Central Community Center at 1300 W. Muhammed Ali Blvd., 502.583.8823 (dgrant@lcccnews.org), or Julie Anderson at the Neighborhood House at 201 N. 25th Street, 502-774-2322, Ext. 232 (janderson@nhky.org). Lunch is included.

About Technology Association of Louisville Kentucky
The Technology Association of Louisville Kentucky (TALK), is a tech council, one of 53 tech councils in North America, including Canada and a member of TECNA (Tech Councils of America and CompTIA). TALK is an independent, non-profit educational organization, a registered 501C3, established officially April 22, 2014 with its first meetup in February 2013. The tech council mission: workforce development and economic development. The council looks to create opportunities for job growth, job training, STEAM curriculum, plus public policy and advocacy around technology subjects in DC. In short, TALK’s purpose is to create and identify jobs, and train people. www.talklou.com

The Art of Workforce Development

Across pockets of the Bluegrass State, kids of all ages are delving into cool, project-based learning designed to build a future workforce that embraces technology in every facet of corporate growth. [View full story at The Lane Report]

Kentucky’s new Education and Workforce Development Secretary brings both an entrepreneurial background and a school choice advocate’s perspective to the job. And Hal Heiner hopes to push the cabinet to move faster than ever before in preparing students to fuel future growth in the state’s economy.

The Louisville businessman and former Republican gubernatorial candidate appeared on KET’s “One to One” to discuss education issues and Gov. Matt Bevin’s plan to expand workforce training opportunities. [View full story at Insider Louisville]

A Rising Call to Promote STEM Education and Cut Liberal Arts Funding

When the Kentucky governor, Matt Bevin, suggested last month that students majoring in French literature should not receive state funding for their college education, he joined a growing number of elected officials who want to nudge students away from the humanities and toward more job-friendly subjects like electrical engineering. [View full story at The New York Times]

Cyberstates 2016 Report

As TALK is a member of CompTIA and TECNA, please find an interesting Cyberstates report released in March 2016: The 17th annual edition of Cyberstates provides a state-by-state analysis of the size and scope of the U.S. tech industry and tech workforce. [View Report]